Safe Houses were the brainchild of David McArthur and formed from the ashes of hardcore punk rock band Distemper in 1986. Distemper were contemporaries of Oi Polloi and Political Asylum and were part of the Anarchist punk scene in Scotland. Safe Houses were overtly political and two of the band were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The line up was David McArthur, Johnny White, Johnny Hanson, Derek Mullen and Ian McLachlan. The band were criminally under-rated compared to the bands around at the time. Releases were limited and the only vinyl released was a flexi disc through Baby Bites Back fanzine. The band finally called time in 1988 due to some members finding it increasingly difficult to work with McArthur. Some of the members went on to find reasonable success in The Hardy Boys and Flame Up. McArthur is currently planning a return to music through The Dark Mile.